Collection of the artist
Gimpel Fils, London
Private Collection, New York
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer, New York
Acquired from the above in 1982

New York, Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer, Barbara Hepworth, 1969, no. 15 (possibly)

Barbara Hepworth (exhibition catalogue), London, Tate Gallery, 1968, no. 78, illustration of another cast p. 57
Alan Bowness, The Complete Sculpture of Barbara Hepworth 1960-69, London, 1971, no. 453
David Fraser Jenkins, Barbara Hepworth: A Guide to the Tate Gallery Collection at London and St Ives, Cornwall, 1982, illustrations of another cast pp. 17 & 30

The work is in very good condition. Variegated green patina. The surface is clean and has been waxed. There is some surface dirt in deeper crevices and some surface accretions visible. There are some minor scratches and rubbing to patina consistent with age.
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Sensuous yet dynamic, Forms in Movement (Pavan) is a stunning example of Barbara Hepworth’s ability to imbue sculpture with a palpable sense of rhythm and movement. Hepworth’s prodigious inventiveness unfolds upon the surfaces of the sculpture, unveiling an arresting composition that appears to be in a state of flux. The graceful, open work evokes the poise and rhythm of the sixteenth-century processional dance, Pavan. As described by Edwin Mullins: “The hint of the dance is in so much of her work: sculpture raised on tiptoes. It is both elegiac and sensuous—a symbol of the human spirit uplifted, and provocative of a reaction. Analogies are with the tensions and litheness of the human body, not its bulk. It is on the alert rather than in repose” (Edwin Mullins, "Scale and Monumentality: Notes and Conversations on the Recent Work of Barbara Hepworth" in Sculpture International, no. 4, Oxford, 1967, n.p.).

The sculpture offers an organic fluidity of interlocking loops that create areas of depth and variability, encouraging viewer exploration of its every angle. As such, the rhythmic quality of the present lot is reinforced by us, as spectators, weaving our way in and around the sculpture and continuing the dance of the work. Hepworth was deeply interested in social interaction, noting: “You can’t make a sculpture, in my opinion, without involving your body. You move and you feel and you breathe and you touch. The spectator is the same. His body is involved too. If it’s a sculpture he has to first of all sense gravity. He’s got two feet. Then he must walk and move and use his eyes and this is a great involvement. Then if a form goes in like that—what are those holes for? One is physically involved and this is sculpture. It’s not architecture. It’s rhythm and dance and everything. It’s do with swimming and movement and air and sea and all our well-being. Sculpture is involved in the body living in the spirit or the spirit living in the body, whichever way you like to put it” (quoted in Cindy Nemser, Art Talk: Conversations with 15 Women Artists, New York, 1995, p. 21).

Conceived in the 1956, Forms in Movement (Pavan) was designed the same year as Hepworth began working in metal. The medium soon became her primary mode of expression as it enabled her to experiment with a greater variety of shapes than stone and wood afforded.  Exhibited by the gentle looping forms in the present work, the strength and flexibility of metal allowed Hepworth to bend it to describe space without filling it. Forms in Movement (Pavan) lies at the junction of the techniques which evolved as a result of these materials: it was cast in bronze from a work she made with concrete applied over an aluminum structure, the form of which was based on an earlier sculpture made i♏n copper. Thus the present work exemplifies how Hepworth integra🍎ted her expertise as a carver in using a material that was new to her.

Other casts of Forms in Movement (Pavan) are located in the collections of The Tate Modern Gallery, London, Storm King, New York 🌠and the Nelson-Atkins♛ Museum of Art, Kansas City.